Sex Trafficking Scheme Gets Newark Man 17 Years In Jail: Feds

NEWARK, NJ — An Essex County resident has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison on charges of sex trafficking and other offenses, federal prosecutors recently announced.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, a jury convicted Amin Sharif, 50, of Newark, of attempted transportation of a victim with intent to engage in prostitution, sex trafficking of a minor, use of an interstate facility to promote unlawful activity, transporting a victim with intent to engage in prostitution, and persuading a victim to travel to engage in prostitution in July 2024.

Sharif was sentenced to 210 months in prison, authorities announced Thursday.

In addition to the prison term, Sharif was sentenced to 20 years of supervised release.

Prosecutors released the following details about the case:

“In January 2021, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating Sharif for sex trafficking offenses. Sharif recruited four females, including one minor victim, from states across the country—New York, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and Utah. Sharif used multiple social media accounts and assumed aliases and false identities to recruit and entice victims. He made promises of housing stability, payment of bills and living expenses, and promises that the victims could make up to thousands of dollars per day by working for him. Sharif advertised the minor victim online, offering her for 32 sexual services.”

Sharif was previously convicted of transporting a minor to engage in prostitution in federal court and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, prosecutors said.

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